Those piranha leds are f'n awesome... they show up nicely during the day... I made my own brake light but my housing was so thrashed it didnt shine through very well... it was cheaper to buy the ebay one and it looks good... I got mine clear and tinted the top only...

 

Got any day/night shots of the side markers? That's something I was looking to do, too.

 

Those leds in metalmilitia606's picture are not piranha's. They are genuine Lumiled Superflux made by Philips. No cheap chineses junk there.

 

I can work something out. Shoot me a PM if you want
I can take some tomorrow. I have been busy with work lately. Holiday shopping working retail sooo much fun.

 

no comment...

 

They really are lol. That is my friend who helps me make all this stuff. You guys should check out his retrofits he has done for rx7's.

 

Wasnt doubting their brand.. superflux and piranha are made by the same manufacturer... ETG.... Philips doesnt make them, they own (owned) the company who does.. ETG, but you get my point. You pay for a name, not quality. I use Piranhas and they are cheap cheap cheap...superbrightleds gets all their **** from them...

http://www.newscenter.philips.com/ma...icle-15496.wpd

 

I see. I didn't know they were the same people. I'm working on uploading a video right now of my sidemarkers. I couldn't get a pic of them because they are so bright. My camera is a little cheapo point and shoot so they just look like blobs lol. The video is a little better.

 

http://youtu.be/r_MwlmF-dP8

Here is a vid of the sidemarkers. Ignore the music in the background. I was cleaning the gargage and had the radio on and forgot to turn it off

 

most of the failure rate of leds comes from incorrect power.. overdriving them is the culprit most of the time but voltage spikes also claim a few if you dont take measure to protect them...

 

Lumiled superflux and Piranha are not the same. You do have the correct article that Philips sold Philips Enabling Technologies Group to VDL Groep. They are now called VDL ETG which is based in Netherlands. Now this is where I think you are confused. The company that makes the Piranha leds are called ETG which is based in the China mainland. Both are two different companies.

Lumiled is a division of Philips lighting which have a wide variety of leds for automotive use. If you read some of the articles on the philips website they even mention other company brands such as Piranha that copy the square design.

You do not get the detailed data sheets and correctly matched bins with the cheap Piranha leds as you do with the Lumiled. So you basically get leds thrown into a bag and sold. This may cause different intensity or color between leds.

 

but are those color variances noticeable to the human eye? All leds have some variance/tolerance and Ive been using piranhas for a while now and have nothing bad to say about them.

So the ETG that makes Piranhas and the ETG that Philips sold are not the same company? It is my understanding that the technology is the same, a SMD with a projector lens over it? Either way, I do not feel the price difference is justified, especially since 99% of the time, the leds sit behind some sort of tinted/textured material so any variances are mostly unnoticeable. I guess in the end, its all personal preference. I will say this, If they can fool me, and I am what I consider an "above average informed" user, then there are a lot of others who 'think' they are getting lumiled but are likely to get the knockoffs and never know the difference....

 

Actually yes you can see it with the human eye. Behind a diffused lens it won't be noticeable as they just blend together but there are many cars on the road with clear lenses that each individual led can be seen so each led has to match. Have you ever put two bin codes next to each other and notice the difference?

Yes the technology is the same but would you want your tools made in the U.S. where you know it is qaulity or in China where the tools have a known failure rate? The same can be said about leds. Also to clarify a smd is a package type. It is the diode that is in the led.

Here is ETG that philips sold
http://www.vdletg.com/

Here is China ETG
http://www.etgtech.com/

 

Point taken...

 

Voltage regulator ftw lol.

 

Are the sidemarkers evenly lit or is there a hot spot towards the middle as shown in the video? I'm thinking of trying EL wire instead of LEDs.

 

It has a hot spot like the stock bulb there just isn't enough space to run the leds across the sidemarker. El wire wont be near bright enough it would be more of a down grade from the stock bulb and the inverter would have to hang out of the side marker because there wont be enough space to fit it.

What would work better is some plcc2 or other smd leds running the width of the sidemarker so it would be evenly lit. I didn't have any on hand at the time that's why we went with the lumileds.

 

Yeah, there isn't enough room inside to actually fit a whole board inside. Mine are 4 LED's on a board that is about the size of a quarter. It is a hot spot that's why the I couldn't get pics lol. They are better than the stock bulbs. IMO they look like the sidemarkers that are on semi trailers. You know what I mean? You can see the individual lights with the naked eye. They aren't blobbed together like the camera makes them out to be.

 

Man, if I had the patience. Is do stuff like this....lol...

 

Yeah, it is very tedious and takes a lot of time. I worked on the sidemarkers 4-6 hours a night over the course of a week.